


Fine

by lysanatt



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2005-10-07
Updated: 2005-10-07
Packaged: 2018-02-20 15:09:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 609
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2433236
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lysanatt/pseuds/lysanatt
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>1980. Narcissa waits for Lucius to come home.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fine

_Tick-tock_ goes the clock.

 _Tick-tock_.

 

Minutes.

The hands move slowly through the hours, slowly through the night. The chair is a haven in the darkness, an island of warm softness and faint light. The cradle is still, not moving. The child sleeps, his eyes closed, his soft skin carries characteristics, already now resembling his father's exquisite features.

 

 _Tick-tock_ goes the clock.

 

Seconds.

Time moves through the night as unseen ghosts.

Outside a slight blush crawls over the rim of darkness, slithers over the horizon, giving a vague promise of sun and day and life.

 

 _Tick-tock_ goes the clock

 

Hours.

She is pacing now, has left the chair. She cannot sleep. She cannot rest. She cannot breathe. In the cradle the tiny child stirs as if he feels the sun moving, disturbing his sleep. He sighs, opens his grey eyes, smiles in his almost-sleep, turns and continues to dream. His little smile reminds her so much of what she may have lost this night.

 

 _Tick-tock_ goes the clock.

 

Eternity.

Every beat she forces her anxious heart to take, every breath she makes, counts the time that has passed since he left, counts the time since he should have been back. Back in her arms, safe.

 

 _Tick-tock_ goes the clock and leaves her without hope.

 

Outside the morning's first fox sneaks around for rabbit or mice hiding in the dim darkness. A bird flutters over the sky, black against the still blackened night, just slightly touched by a promise of day.

 

 _Tick-tock_ goes the clock and a tear lurks in the corner of her eye.

 

She knew what he was, she knew! But the pain is unbearable. There is no way she can deny it,  
She is in love with him and the separation, the desperation she feels is excruciating, so sickening that she would rather have been out there with him, facing the horrors he would have to face.

 

 _Tick-tock_ goes the clock and, almost, only almost, drowns out the sound of the owl pecking at the window glass, delivering this morning's Daily Prophet.

 _Tick-tock_ goes the clock, and as she opens the paper everything stops.

  
  
DEATH EATER ATTACK!  
Dozens dead on both sides.  
  


Everything stops and everything is lost. Her world becomes a narrow line of pain and loneliness, a world of silence and broken dreams.

Slowly she caresses their son. His beautiful face, her beautiful son, might be all she has left to remind her of her husband.

Slowly, encased in silence, she gathers everything she has; will-power, strength, courage. She gathers everything she has so that no one will see her pain when they come to tell her he is dead.

 

 _Tick-tock_ goes the clock and counts the time until her world ends.

 _Tick-tock_ goes the clock, the only sound she hears until she is disturbed by the sound of a creaking door.

 _Tick-tock_ goes the clock and she braces herself before the blow.

 

At first she doesn't understand. She sees, but doesn't understand. The blond hair tucked under the hood. A trickle of blood, maybe his own, a faint memory of pain, coagulated. His grey eyes are tired, weary. But his love for her still shines through. Then she is in his arms, he holds her so tight, trembling. His robe smells of fire, of blood, of death. It doesn't matter. What matters is that she is able to cling to him, to whisper his name again and again while he kisses her. On the cheek. On the lips.

'Lucius?' she whispers.  
'I'm fine, Narcissa,' he says as he cradles her in his strong embrace. 'I'm fine.'

 

 _Tick-tock_ goes the clock.

Fine.

 _Tick-tock_.

Until next time.


End file.
